Diff browsers formatting data differently when using POST and GET

iggystar · Apr 9, 2003

I have a simple little script that captures some data from a form and the just e-mails it off. My problem is, IE isn't formatting the data the way I expect it too.

For example, I ask for first and last names, among other things. When I use the Opera browser it sends the data to me like this:
firstname=bob&lastname=smith

Where are the data items are seperated by a "&" symbol. This is how I expected it to work.

When IE sends the info it sends it to me like this:
firstname=Bob lastname=Smith
where the data isn't seperated by "&" and then my script goes on to choke when it tries to process the data since I'm expecting the "&" symbols.

It seems to be that the way Opera is formatting the data is way it should be and I don't understand why IE is doing it differently.

Is there anything I can do, somewhat command I can send to the IE Browser for example, that will cause it to format it's data the way Opera does?

Thanks.

sleipnir214 · Apr 9, 2003

What version of IE?

Can you post the minimum amount of HTML that will produce a form that will cause IE to reproduce the error? Want the best answers? Ask the best questions:

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

TANSTAAFL!

iggystar · Apr 10, 2003

I've tried it using IE 6.0 and 5.5

I'll chop down the HTML to just a simply form and then check it again and post it.

iggystar · Apr 10, 2003

Ok here's a simple form with only 3 bits of data:

<HTML>
<form name="form1" METHOD="POST" ENCTYPE="text/plain" action="http:test2.pl">

<TABLE cellpadding="3" CELLSPACING=0 BORDER="0" WIDTH=480>

<TR>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" COLSPAN=4>
<INPUT TYPE="TEXT" MAXLENGTH="15" NAME="firstname">
</TD>
</TR>

<TR>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" COLSPAN=4>
<INPUT TYPE="TEXT" MAXLENGTH="20" NAME="lastname">
</TD>
</TR>

<TR>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" COLSPAN=4>
<INPUT TYPE="TEXT" MAXLENGTH="15" NAME="title">
</TD>
</TR>

<TR>
<TD WIDTH="100%" VALIGN="MIDDLE" align=center>
<INPUT TYPE="submit" VALUE="Submit" id=submit1>
</TD>
</TABLE>

</FORM>
</html>

And here's the most simple perl script to process this data ever:

read ( STDIN, $data, $ENV{'CONTENT_LENGTH'} );
print "Content-Type: text/html\n\n"; # print out our header
print ( $data );

Now when I submit this form using IT I get this as the output of the script:

firstname=a lastname=b title=c

But when I submit the very same page using Opera I get this:

firstname=a&lastname=b&title=c

The output that Opera gives is what I expected and I don't understand why IE is giving different output. Thanks in advance for any help.

danielhozac · Apr 12, 2003

It's the [tt]ENCTYPE="text/plain"[/tt] which is confusing IE.

//Daniel

sleipnir214 · Apr 12, 2003

Yep, that would do it. The enctype should be "application/x-

http://www-form-urlencoded"

(the default) or "multipart/form-data" (if you're using inputs of type file).

Opera must be ignoring the value and using the default. I find it interesting that IE would actually try to do it.

Want the best answers? Ask the best questions:

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

TANSTAAFL!

iggystar · Apr 12, 2003

thanks

Tek-Tips is the largest IT community on the Internet today!

Members share and learn making Tek-Tips Forums the best source of peer-reviewed technical information on the Internet!

Diff browsers formatting data differently when using POST and GET

iggystar

IS-IT--Management

sleipnir214

Programmer

iggystar

IS-IT--Management

iggystar

IS-IT--Management

danielhozac

Programmer

sleipnir214

Programmer

iggystar

IS-IT--Management

Similar threads

Part and Inventory Search

Sponsor